Market X’Analysis: About this cryptocurrency thing…

One of the most interesting positions I hold in my portfolio is the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC). I guess by now the cryptocurrency hype has died down a bit, but the technology is not going anywhere. Back in July 2017, if you follow me on Facebook, you would have seen me posting about cryptocurrency and how I was getting involved. Not long after that, you may have seen me mention the returns that I was at 80%+ in returns on my initial investment of $390/share.

I purchased a share just to see what bitcoin and blockchain were all about. There were a ton of people talking about it and I had the luxury of hearing many perspectives about cryptocurrencies. The good, the bad and the ugly. But the reason I started with the Bitcoin Investment Trust provided by Grayscale Investments was that I understood what an investment trust was. And instead of diving directly into buying into Bitcoin, I sought a way that I could buy in, at a lower price, using an instrument I had a better understanding of. As I researched the underlying “digital currency” for GBTC, I got more and more interested in buying into the various cryptocurrencies that were on the market.

Fast forward a month later, I bought $250 worth of cryptocurrency. That’s not a lot considering there were people going all in with their life savings. I put in only what I was willing to completely lose. But it seemed overnight that $250 turned into $400 then the next week it was $650. Two months in I was sitting at $800 worth of cryptocurrency spread out between Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Iota, Ripple, and Decentraland. I would spend hours on Binance, reading about all the new Initial Coin Offerings like it was my job. And quite frankly with the quick growth of my little $250 investment, it was my job to make sure I kept a return.

DISCLAIMER: CRYPTOCURRENCY IS NOT FOR EVERYBODY! If you have bad nerves as it is, DON’T DO YOURSELF LIKE THAT.Go put your money in a savings account or something you have more control over.

Recently, I’ve been looking at companies that are implementing some version of blockchain for things outside of the digital currency space. The coolest part about blockchain is that it decentralizes the “source of the truth” so to speak. In the banking world, it could act as a distributed general ledger of all transactions. In the world of public service/politics, it could ensure that each person votes one time and that ensure that each vote is anonymous. You are at liberty to program the rules of engagement for any transaction you are willing to accept.

If I find any cool companies using blockchain I’ll keep you posted. And if you find any please be sure to let me know too!